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The Mark
Tamara has always known exactly where she belongs.
At Calder University, an elite HBCU steeped in Black history, old money, and even older traditions, she is a legacy student, cheer captain, campus royalty, and the kind of woman people learn quickly not to cross. She has spent years mastering the art of staying on top, even when somebody else has to be underneath her.
Zahir remembers being one of those people.
Years after Tamara made his life miserable in high school, he appears at Calder transformed: brilliant, confident, impossible to intimidate, and buried deep in research surrounding the university's restricted archives. When an invitation-only Halloween party puts them across from each other in an old Calder game called The Mark, Tamara's pride refuses to let her walk away.
She loses.
Her final dare sounds simple.
Let Zahir mark her.
One symbol. One touch. One terrible mistake.
The ink sinks beneath Tamara's skin, awakening a supernatural bond neither of them understands and exposing a secret Calder has protected for generations. Students have vanished. Families have forgotten their own children. Powerful bloodlines have prospered while someone else always paid the price. Now Tamara's name has appeared inside a ledger older than anyone living, and the secret society beneath Calder has plans for her.
Forced together by dangerous magic, buried resentment, and an attraction neither of them wants to trust, Tamara and Zahir must uncover what The Mark truly means before Founders Day completes a ritual more than a century in the making.
Because Calder University has survived fire, violence, scandal, and ruin.
Tamara is about to discover exactly who it sacrificed to do it.
The Mark is a Black paranormal romance blending HBCU dark academia, enemies-to-lovers chemistry, ancestral magic, secret societies, dangerous university traditions, morally complicated characters, and a supernatural mystery where power always comes with a price.
At Calder University, an elite HBCU steeped in Black history, old money, and even older traditions, she is a legacy student, cheer captain, campus royalty, and the kind of woman people learn quickly not to cross. She has spent years mastering the art of staying on top, even when somebody else has to be underneath her.
Zahir remembers being one of those people.
Years after Tamara made his life miserable in high school, he appears at Calder transformed: brilliant, confident, impossible to intimidate, and buried deep in research surrounding the university's restricted archives. When an invitation-only Halloween party puts them across from each other in an old Calder game called The Mark, Tamara's pride refuses to let her walk away.
She loses.
Her final dare sounds simple.
Let Zahir mark her.
One symbol. One touch. One terrible mistake.
The ink sinks beneath Tamara's skin, awakening a supernatural bond neither of them understands and exposing a secret Calder has protected for generations. Students have vanished. Families have forgotten their own children. Powerful bloodlines have prospered while someone else always paid the price. Now Tamara's name has appeared inside a ledger older than anyone living, and the secret society beneath Calder has plans for her.
Forced together by dangerous magic, buried resentment, and an attraction neither of them wants to trust, Tamara and Zahir must uncover what The Mark truly means before Founders Day completes a ritual more than a century in the making.
Because Calder University has survived fire, violence, scandal, and ruin.
Tamara is about to discover exactly who it sacrificed to do it.
The Mark is a Black paranormal romance blending HBCU dark academia, enemies-to-lovers chemistry, ancestral magic, secret societies, dangerous university traditions, morally complicated characters, and a supernatural mystery where power always comes with a price.
451 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 3, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
September 13, 2026
This was such a fun read! The Mark gave me HBCU dark academia, secret societies, paranormal mystery, enemies-to-lovers tension, and a whole lot of family legacy drama packed into one story.
I really liked Tamara’s character arc because she actually had to sit with the consequences of who she used to be instead of getting an easy redemption. Zahir was a great match for her too. Their history made the romance messy in the best way, and I loved that forgiveness wasn’t treated like something he owed her.
The Calder University setting might have been my favorite part. The hidden archives, old traditions, underground tunnels, Founders rituals, and generations of secrets made the campus feel like its own character.
Fast, dramatic, supernatural, and just twisty enough to keep me wondering what Calder was hiding next. That ending also definitely leaves the door open for more. 👀
I really liked Tamara’s character arc because she actually had to sit with the consequences of who she used to be instead of getting an easy redemption. Zahir was a great match for her too. Their history made the romance messy in the best way, and I loved that forgiveness wasn’t treated like something he owed her.
The Calder University setting might have been my favorite part. The hidden archives, old traditions, underground tunnels, Founders rituals, and generations of secrets made the campus feel like its own character.
Fast, dramatic, supernatural, and just twisty enough to keep me wondering what Calder was hiding next. That ending also definitely leaves the door open for more. 👀
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review